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E46 (1999 - 2006) The fourth generation 3 Series (E46 chassis) was introduced in 1999 and set the standard for engineering and performance during it's years of production including being named to Car & Driver's 10 best list every one of those years! ! -- View the E46 Wiki

So based on the codes, I figured it was one of the ignition coils that's gone intermitent. So I go to check them physically and fine one whos frame is starting to melt. (Happened to be a Bremi/BMW at cyl 5. while the rest were BMW/Bosch.) I replace that suspicious one with a new Bosch unit and at the same time I noticed the plugs looked a little worn after 50K so I changed those too. the plugs looked a little rich to me, black soot, but not oily. Boots looked fine.

Put it all back together and it wouldn't start at all.

Put back the suspect coil just to see if I could get it to run again and it wont start either. Then I start swapping the new coil all cylinders one by one and trying to start, but no combination worked.

could I have more than one bad/weak coil and they got worse when I touched them? Should I buy more? the entire set? Do they all eventually go out after set amount of life, like lightbulbs and so maybe more than one are bad at the same time?

could I have a different problem, like a fuel problem? Car has been well maintained since owning it for the past two years. I have records of most everything replaced (except for that one Bremi coil...).

Please help! Any clues or suggestions are welcome. Coils are somewhat expensive so I don't want to replace them all if i don't need to and most say just to replace them as they go out. Thanks!